*UPDATE 2015: Unfortunately both Stroga & Epic Yoga have closed their doors since the writing of this post.*

It’s been a long time since I’ve blogged about wedding venues in the DC metro area. Originally when I started Capitol Romance, I wanted to highlight a venue once a week – hah! My was I optimistic (and completely unaware of how difficult that would eventually prove to me). However I get a TON of web traffic to my Washington DC Gardens Venue post I did a long time ago (lots of people want outdoor wedding venues in DC apparently) and I get a lot of hits to the blog for “cheap DC wedding venues” – which I am not sure I do the best at sharing.

But, for today, I’d love to share a round-up of some of DC’s best ‘offbeat’ wedding venues. You know, the non-hotel ballroom types.

Now, Washington DC isn’t exactly Brooklyn, so when it comes to offbeat wedding spaces, we aren’t exactly overflowing with lofts or industrial space. But we do have some pretty sweet alternative venue options in a few parts of the city that allow for some awesome nontraditional DC weddings.

Stroga, in Adams Morgan and Epic Yoga in Dupont Circle, are two of the COOLEST event venues I have yet to see in DC. Epic Yoga has exposed brick, wood floors, high loft-like ceilings, fireplaces …. about as close to an industrial space as we are going to get in DC proper.

Art galleries are always a good wedding venue choice – mostly because they need little decorations, the space is already decorated with beautiful and unique art! Two of my favorite galleries in DC proper are Fathom Gallery and Longview Gallery.

Though not a wedding, Karson Butler Events designed a stunning baby shower at the gallery, with vibrant feathers & colors everywhere. It gives you an idea of how an offbeat wedding might look in the space. Check it out here.

A while back I featured a beautiful wedding at Eastern Market’s North Hall and ever since then, I get a fair amount of readers that email me to ask for more information about getting married there.

The location is PERFECT, the building is beautiful, and it certainly lends itself to being nontraditional. Plus the surrounding area provides some pretty sweet spots for wedding portraits. Check out more information on wedding rentals at Eastern Market here.

The Woolly Mammoth was actually on my own original wedding venue list and the Arena Stage was only recently constructed in SE DC – but both are super modern. Huge ceilings, open air spaces, and beautiful metal and wood details make either of these spaces an awesome selection for an offbeat DC wedding venue.

Having had tickets to Arena for years (they built a new campus around old theaters from the ’60s, so there’s a neat, retro as well as contemporary vibe) I was excited to have my wedding there last year. The view from the outdoor terrace towards the river and Washington monument is pretty fantastic and I gather lots of couples use it for their cocktail hour. Their rates are quite reasonable, too – on the low end for DC, especially for a space that can work for a few or a ton of people. (I paid about $5200, I think)

Just a word if advice if anyone considering an event at Epic Yoga, it’s a beautiful space but don’t even consider it for summer events. I held an event there in July and it happened to be a heat wave, they had completely in adequate AC and the management was very unhelpful. It was about 90 degrees inside and basically ruined the event. The exposed brick is not worth that.

I’m loving the yoga studios! My fiancé and I are planning a January wedding and I am having trouble finding chic indoor venues that are affordable. I have sent inquiries to both studies as well as Eastern Market. Any more advice would be fabulous!

Hi Anne – glad you found the post useful. Working with Stroga was great (I worked a wedding there last fall and it was great -minus NO ELEVATOR!) I am working a wedding at Epic Yoga this year and my clients have been VERY frustrated with the venue coordinator, just FYI. Venues that aren’t used to dealing with weddings can be a handle to deal with. Eastern Market is a GREAT one though!

My partner and I are looking at Epic Yoga for a wedding, can you tell me if the wedding you are talking about has occurred? Do you have any photos of it? It seems really reasonable for DC. But we’d like to know more when you say VERY frustrated

Thanks for the great roundup! I’m an LA based event planner helping my sister in-law plan her DC wedding and she doesn’t want a traditional hotel wedding. Looking forward to checking out your list for her.

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